Mike Oehler welcome thread

So, the first thing I'm curious about is how many different climates and geological zones have you built in or designed for and how have you adapted your designs for those different areas? Thanks Gary

Gary

Kathleen Sanderson

Posts: 985

Location: Near Klamath Falls, Oregon

1

posted 6 years ago

Hi, Mike! I already have the $50 and Up Underground House Book -- and I think that Paul is right, it is one of the, if not the, most practical alternative type of building. PSP, combined with a rocket stove, will be what I use if I manage to make it back to Alaska. If possible, I will add some foam board insulation on the exterior, just because the temperatures in the Interior of Alaska are so extreme, but even without the insulation, if there's enough DRY dirt on and around the structure, it should be pretty easy to keep it warm.

I need to build a small structure here for supplemental housing (in case my mother and step-father end up coming to live with us as this economy gets worse), and am debating whether to use PSP or not. We only have one acre, and would have to buy all the wood, so it would be impossible to do it for $50. Don't know if we could even do it for $500 -- I need to do some costing out of materials. It would be a 200 s.f. structure, since that's what we can build without getting a building permit. And then I'd have to buy the dirt to cover it (we only have one acre here; it's fairly level with a slight slope to the north. My back just isn't up to digging enough heavy clay to cover even such a small structure!). It still may be less expensive than any other building method here, though.